Thank you all for the reviews.

I'm sorry for not posting sooner, but, you know that thing they call "life"? Yeah, that intervened. I'm sorry.

On another note, I can't believe I'm posting this chapter. I personally think it's terrible. But a certain someone, whose username totally isn't Scythe of the Reaper, may or may not have convinced (read: blackmailed) me into posting this version of the chapter. The drafted version. The un-beta'd version. You get the idea, right? I hope it isn't as terrible as I think it is, but I'm pretty sure it'll be undergoing revision sooner or later.

In the meantime. Read. "Enjoy".

U ɴ ƒ o ʀ ɢ ɪ v ᴇ ɴ

Chapter Seven: Christmas Wishes

David sat at the table, his eyes cast downwards. Christmas carols were being played from some anonymous location in the house. Sophie was softly humming along to them.

"So what's wrong with you this time, Spidey?"

He determinedly cut into the meat, his hands trembling slightly. His mother was talking to him, telling him a story, but he didn't hear a word of it. He was nodding at the appropriate intervals, but his mind was elsewhere.

"Ah. Well, you're fucked, aren't you?"

He heard himself laugh, and inwardly wondered why. He didn't quite know what he was doing; his body was acting on impulse, just like it had been for the last five hours. He'd heard of emotional shock before, but he'd never experienced the affects of it firsthand. At least, not to this degree. He didn't know how or why it had kicked in so suddenly, but the fact remained that it had. With somewhat disastrous results.

"So what? What's that supposed to mean?"

David looked up, catching Sophie's eye. She winked, displaying none of the hatred towards him that he knew she felt. Mary was smiling and laughing as well, her tone perfectly designed to sound warm, loving and compassionate. It was a bizarre mockery of a real family, and each of the three were aware of it, even though they would all rather die than admit to lying.

"La-de-da-de-da. Get a grip already."

If none of them had never before earned an Academy Award for acting, right now David, Sophie and Mary were all deserving of one. David cracked a joke, and Sophie giggled, her shy smile hiding the ice in her green eyes. Mary smiled at both of them, her gaze lingering on David as she handed out bon-bons. Their presents hadn't been exchanged yet, sitting underneath the glowing Christmas tree behind the dining table. The bright lights were the only illumination in the room, rigged up along the walls and the ceiling. They reminded him of the paper chains that Millie and he had strewn through his apartment, and with a silent pang in his heart, he shoved another forkful of food into his mouth.

"Let's get something clear here, alright? You don't understand me. You don't know me. I don't understand you, but I know you. You can pretend what you want, but I know you."

Sophie moved her seat back, wiping at her mouth with a napkin and an apologetic look, excusing herself to go to the bathroom. In the sudden silence that fell unexpectedly during her absence, Mary reached over and took David's hand in her own. They stayed like that for a long moment, his clammy, sweaty hand clutched in her own cool, dry one. They had both stopped eating, instead just watching each other as the Christmas lights danced around them. The dizzying shadows kept moving, some alien animal that had come alive in the façade of festivity.

"We can't ever just work together, can we?"

Sophie's soft footfalls heralded her return, and Mary picked up her fork just before her daughter walked back into the room. For his part of the act, David reached over and served himself something out of a silver bowl. He didn't know what it was, and he couldn't taste the food anyway. With a sigh that was supposed to sound content, he finished what was on his plate, and leant back in his carved wooden chair, watching his mother and his sister eat the rest.

"Have it your way. I thought, maybe … Forget it."

Sophie finished next, her gaze settling on the flickering lights above David's head. She was still humming along to the carols, before she began to murmur the words to the song. Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, Robin Laid An Egg… David smothered another laugh, pulling the sleeves of his leather jacket down slightly. Mary kept eating, eyes flickering between her two children. She seemed undecided about something. David didn't even want to guess at what that might be.

"If you're going to be like that – listen, I don't have to put up with this crap. You got that? I'm leaving."

Mary finished her meal, and stood up. Sophie and David followed her lead, before settling down again, underneath the branches of the Christmas tree. He handed the presents he had bought to his mother and sister, watching their faces light up with what looked like genuine joy as they ripped the wrapping paper off the boxes. Mary was holding a beautiful golden necklace in her hands, and Sophie was carefully cherishing a clear snow-globe. This one had a small, perfect replica of Big Ben in it, complete with the correct time for the Alaskan time zone. Sophie also had a necklace, silver, with an onyx stone hanging off it. She put it on at once, then helped her mother get the catch for her own golden necklace.

"You don't ever give up, do you?"

Once the two had thanked him, David found himself unwrapping a small box to reveal a handsome, custom-made watch. There were fourteen different hands on it, each colour-coded to the location it was designed to follow the time of. Alaska was blue, Oregon was green, Sydney was lime, Tokyo was black, Paris was silver, London was red and New York was gold. It was fairly simple to look at, until you realised the depth of information that was on the screen.

"What – what are you doing?"

Sophie, giggling madly, watched David blush bright red as he opened her gift to reveal bright pink thermal underwear. He playfully tossed the wrappings at her, only to duck as she fired them back. A moment later, paper was raining from the ceiling as the two tackled each other, David pulling the thermal underwear over his normal clothing and clowning around in it. Even Mary laughed until she had tears in her eyes, and David began to fully comprehend just how much he wished that this whole scene was real.

"You can't! David, you can't do this! It's … "

Maybe it could be, someday. Maybe even tonight.

"Oh, no. No, no, NO!"

Half an hour later, once the room had been completely cleaned up, David said his goodbyes. He kissed Mary on the cheek and hugged Sophie close to him, breathing in the scent of her hair. It had started snowing outside, and the power had started blinking on and off. Mary and Sophie seemed completely content with it though, waving him goodbye as he turned in a circle and disappeared off the porch.

"You can't keep following me!"

David stepped onto a table in Australia. He was on Mount Seaview, looking out over the Pacific Ocean. It was far warmer here than it had been in Alaska, even though it was later at night. He gazed at the ocean, biting his lower lip softly. He was sitting on the main part of the table, his feet beside his thermal underwear on the sitting bench. His new watch was on his left wrist, glowing softly in the darkness.

"I just wanted to help you. Fuck! I just wanted to help!"

All David wanted was to be accepted. He'd lost Ann Arbour as a refuge; he'd lost Millie; he'd lost Griffin. At least his family still pretended to love him. Maybe, just maybe, that pretence could become real. David watched the starlight on the water for a long time, before slipping off the table and walking into the trees. He picked something up, and then Jumped again.

"Motherfucking bastard!"

He knocked on the door of the house. Sophie opened it, holding a candle. She was dressed in a silken dressing gown, her silver necklace still hung around her throat. David held Griffin's unconscious frame in his arms, silently offering her the limp body. A dark, cruel smile curled across her face, and she opened the door wider.

The candle went out.

Author's Note:

So there you go...

The italics were part of the conversation David had with Griffin after Griffin offered to listen to him. It turned into an argument, and it's playing pretty heavily on David's mind. Or, at least, that's how the chapter is supposed to be written. Le sigh. Again, I hope that this isn't as terrible as I think it is, and I hope that you guys at least got some enjoyment out of it.

Thank you all for your previous reviews, and feel free to rip this chapter apart if you didn't like it. (Or flame Scythe, either way.)

If you did like it, please tell me!

I guess what I'm saying here is ... either way, please leave a review! Haha...

If anyone out there is doing NaNoWriMo, good luck! Hope you're all well and that your eyes aren't bleeding. Take care!